


Two People Sitting Doing Nothing

by MagitekUnit05953234



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Fluff, Gen, He’s a soft lil kid, Mentioned Ignis Scientia, Noct worries too much, Pre-Canon, Regis can warp at this point in his life because I say so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-02
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-08-16 18:16:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16500323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagitekUnit05953234/pseuds/MagitekUnit05953234
Summary: Noct is supposed to be out there in front of a crowd and cameras with the dad he never sees and read his lines from the teleprompter and smile and act like there is nothing else he’d rather do on his eleventh birthday. It how it goes —and Noct has ruined it.





	Two People Sitting Doing Nothing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompts "muddy" and "tumble."  
> No beta. I'm dyin’ y’all.  
> Title from “No Choir” by Florence + the Machine

Noctis Lucis Caelum, Crown Prince of Lucis, is about as far from princely as it gets right now. He’s supposed to make a public appearance in an hour —or maybe that hour has already passed— but instead, he’s holed up in the most obscure and out-of-the-way secret passage he could find in the Citadel. Noct hasn’t even shown this place to Iggy, and Noct tells Iggy everything.  _ That’s _ how secret it is.

The day is ruined. Noct knows that for sure. It’s his fault, as things usually are. He’s supposed to be out there in front of a crowd and cameras with the dad he never sees and read his lines from the teleprompter and smile and act like there is nothing else he’d rather do on his eleventh birthday. It how it goes —and Noct has ruined it.

It all happened because Noct wanted to see the birds in the garden. Since summer first rolled around, there has been a little nest of black and gold birds in the lowest branch of the biggest tree in the garden. Noct always worries about those little birds whenever it rains, and it stormed  _ hard _ the night before.

The birds were there and they were fine. The problem is: a great big muddy patch was there beneath the tree, too. Noct, who had snuck out already dressed in his stifling, perfectly tailored suit, slipped in that stupid gosh darn puddle. His bad knee gave out when his foot touched the mushy ground in  _ just _ the wrong way, and he tumbled right into the mud.

Noct sat there for a moment, stunned by the shock of falling and the pain lancing through his knee —oh, why hadn’t he just listened to Iggy and put on that stupid brace— and then scrambled up as quick as he could in hopes that he could minimize the damage. He couldn’t. At the sight of the grime coating his previously pristine clothes, Noct burst into tears.

So now he hides. The passageway is dark and narrow, and Noct can feel the mud through his clothes drying to a crust on the fine fabric.

No one will find him here. Hopefully.

Noct doesn’t think he’s ever done anything this stupid —both the slipping and the subsequent hiding— in his whole life.

Noctis is alone until he isn’t. There’s a glint of something from above, where Noct knows a vent opens into this dark little passageway,and then there’s the light of warp magic coalescing a foot from Noct and then someone is  _ there _ . Noct can’t tell who since it’s too dark to see and he’s also trying to blink spots out of his eyes from the magic.

He breathes. The person, a ‘Glaive probably, breathes too. It’s quiet other than that.

Noct swallows. “Hey.”

“Hello to you,” says… oh gosh, says—

“Dad,” Noct reached out into the gloom and his hand is caught by his father’s, soft and warm and crossed at one point by the ever-chilled metal of the Ring he never removes. “What… how—?”

“My son,” Regis squeezes Noct’s hand. “I had a feeling I might find you here.”

Noctis is beginning to see a little better through the dark. The Ring casts a faint red glow out into the little space, providing just enough light for Noct to make out the outline of his father’s face. “How did you find me?”

There’s a flash of teeth. A smile. “I used to hide here when I was your age and I wanted to get out of dinner with the Amicitias. It’s hard for adults to get into unless you can warp.”

“Y-yeah,” Noct turns a little in his seat on the floor. His clothes crunch a little with the movement and he winces.

“What are you hiding here for?” Regis’s voice is quiet. He doesn’t sound disappointed or mad which is a relief, but Noct still hesitates. “Is it the press event?”

“No,” Noct blurts, then reconsiders. “Yes. Maybe?”

“I know this isn’t the way you would like to spend your birthday,” Regis’s metal brace clinks in the dark as he changes position, and a spike of guilt rattles around in Noct’s skull because his dad is crammed into a veritable closet of a secret passage because of Noct. Regis sick or busy (or both) all the time and Noct is here wasting his time… “But it will only last twenty minutes or so. After that, you will be free to spend the day as you choose.”

Noct doesn’t have the courage to say that what he really wants is to spend a day with his dad and Iggy without his dad having to leave five minutes in. He starts to tear up despite himself. “B-but my clothes.”   
“Your clothes?”

“I fell,” Noct scrubs at his face with his free hand, praying that the general darkness of the passage was hiding the awful way he looks when he cries. “In— in the gardens. I wanted— I wanted to see the birds and I fell and my clothes are all muddy and I ruined them and… I can’t. I…”

“Oh Noctis,” Regis’s arms encircle Noct, strong and comforting. “You have nothing to worry about.”

“But I— I ruined it. And I hid and— and— I-Iggy must be worried. And Cor… and Clarus. And you. And my  _ clothes _ .”

“This is hardly your only suit,” Regis laughs. “And this is hardly a worry compared to the fright I must have gave your grandfather when I was thirteen.”

Noct blinks. His face is buried in his father’s raiment, and his voice is muffled by it when he speaks. “When you were thirteen?”

“Ah,” Regis parts from Noct but keeps his hands clasped on Noct’s shoulders. “When I was thirteen, I bribed a Crownsguard to take me out to Lestallum for four days without a word to my father nor anyone else. I caused a national emergency, I did.”

“Oh,” Noct sniffles. “I didn’t do that, did I?”

“Cause a national emergency?” Regis laughs again, and Noct wants to hug him all over again. “You haven’t. You’ve hardly been gone half an hour. There’s still time to get you in some clean clothes and get you out there to do your part.”

“Th-there is?”   
“There is,” Regis confirms. He pauses before he speaks again. “Can I tell you a secret?”   
Noct has absolutely no idea what kind of secret his dad is about to tell him, but there is absolutely no way he’s going to turn that down. “ _ Yes _ .”

“When the press event is over, come find me. The Crestholm Reservoir is calling our names, and I may have cajoled a certain Shield into driving us there for the evening.”   
Noct’s heart leaps. Fishing? Outside Insomnia? With his  _ dad _ !? He’s never done anything like it before and it sounds like a dream. “For real?”

“Of course,” Regis stands and has to bend at the waist to fit in the passage properly. Noct feels very small when his dad pulls him up. Noct fits neatly under his dad’s stooped form. “Even kings need a day to fish in peace now and then. Why not share that day with his favorite son?”

“I’m your only son!” Noct laughs, barely minding the way his sullied clothes cling and chafe at his skin. 

“That you are,” Regis summons a coin, lighting the passage with crystals for short moments. “I have to warp to leave, but I reckon you know your own way out.”

Noctis crawled in through a teensy panel connecting to an empty office. He could barely make it through, so it makes sense that his dad has to warp through the vent from the floor above instead of going through that panel.

“I’ll meet you on the other side. I’ll have Cor bring you something to wear,” Regis leans down and kisses the top of Noct’s head. “See you in a moment.”   
And then he’s gone.

Noct grins as he crawls out of the passage and takes the stairs up to the next floor. His dad is just where Noct thought he’d be, clothes rumpled from sitting on the floor and wearing a matching smile.

Today suddenly doesn’t feel very ruined at all.


End file.
